The present invention relates generally to cache storage, and more specifically, to the management of cache storage for sequential write storage.
For many contemporary companies, data is an important asset and the amount of data requiring storage is growing at an exponential rate. Much of this data includes semi-active and/or unstructured data and thus, may not be well suited for storage in a traditional database system. Due to the ever increasing volume of corporate data that must be stored, for example, in formats not suited for traditional database systems, even relatively low cost consumer-grade serial advanced technology attachment (SATA) disks may prove to be very costly.
Tapes and shingled magnetic recording (SMR) disks are generally inexpensive and dense, and thus, they are good candidates for the main storage of massive amounts of corporate data. Drawbacks to tapes and SMR disks are related to their sequential write nature. Additional drawbacks of tapes have to do with their long access latency.